Policy Server/PCRF – Quarterly Market Share Report

In 2Q16, the PCRF market grew up 31% compared to 2Q15. For the full-year 2015, the PCRF market grew 24% and we continue to forecast that market growth will slow slightly in 2016 and that the market will reach $900 M for the year. The PCRF market is driven by an increasing array of services and billing plans offered by operators and the need to manage the quality of service for each of these services and/or billing plans.

In 2Q16, Huawei again held the top spot in the PCRF market with 33% of the market, up from 28% in 2Q15. Huawei grew its revenues 54% Y/Y in 2Q16. Ericsson which grew its PCRF revenues 28% compared to 2Q15 accounted for 29% of the market, down a single percentage point versus 2Q15. Over the past several years, there has been a significant shift in the vendor landscape of the PCRF market. The PCRF, perhaps 2 or 3 years ago, was very much tied an operator’s billing and charging systems, so those vendors that specialized in those network elements, like Openet, Amdocs, and Oracle (via its Tekelec acquisition) tended to hold strong positions in the PCRF market. More recently, the PCRF is not as tied to the billing systems and is a key component to VoLTE and EPC network elements, therefore, vendors with strong IMS and EPC positions, like Ericsson and Huawei, have been gaining share.